Devyani Khobragade gets UN accreditation, paperwork under review in US

Washington: US is reviewing the paperwork it received from United Nations about the diplomatic accreditation of senior Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade arrested early this month on visa fraud charges, an American official has said.

"We received the paperwork from United Nations late on Friday. It is under review," a State Department spokesperson said.

The spokesperson, however, refused to divulge any detail about the time the State Department would take to review the paperwork or if the entire paperwork was in order and when Khobragade would receive her identity card.

Khobragade gets UN accreditation

On Monday, Khobragade was granted accreditation to UN headquarters in New York and the process to get a separate State Department identity card which would give her full diplomatic immunity is underway.

Khobragade has got the UN badge which states that she is a delegate and counsellor at the Indian mission to UN and that identity card will enable her to enter UN premises, sources said.

However, since a UN accreditation does not automatically grant her diplomatic immunity, she requires a State Department ID which would grant her the diplomatic privileges and immunity. Sources said that the immunity is not granted by UN but by the host country, in this case US.

With federal departments headed for the Christmas and New Year holidays, the sources said, it is up to the State Department as to when it will issue her its identity card, which will give her full diplomatic immunity. Movement in processing her State Department ID is expected to take place only after the Christmas holidays.

Khobragade, who was Deputy Consul General at the Indian Consulate in New York, was arrested on December 12 after a New York court issued arrest warrant against her on charges of visa fraud.

India has contested her arrest and subsequent treatment. She was later released on a bail bond of USD 250,000 and she was asked to submit her diplomatic passport by the New York Court.

Khobragade was later transferred by the Indian Government to its Permanent Mission to UN so that she gets full diplomatic immunity. Her transfer has been accepted by United Nations, which sent the necessary paperwork to US State Department for issuing the identity card that would grant her full diplomatic immunity.

Signs of India, US moving towards resolution of standoff

First signs that India and US may be moving towards a resolution of the standoff over Khobragade's issue emerged on Monday after she got exemption from personal appearance in a New York Court hearing the visa fraud case.

Khobragade had been transferred by the government to its mission to UN with a view to giving her full diplomatic immunity. Her accreditation is expected to be followed by some paperwork at US State Department for which India has already submitted the papers.

Simultaneously, her exemption from personal appearance in the court is a significant step towards a way out of the standoff created by her arrest and strip search which had evoked a sharp reaction from the Indian government that has been pressing US to drop the charges against her unconditionally.